Siding service · Chesapeake, VA

Wood clapboard and cedar shake siding

Older houses often still have real wood siding, and South Norfolk's historic-district guidelines ask owners to keep and repair it. Cedar shake suits gables and coastal-style homes. Call to reach an independent contractor who works with wood.

Call (757) 260-8245

Early twentieth-century two-story house with cream wood clapboard siding and a deep front porch on a tree-lined street

Repair first, then replace

Wood clapboard (also called weatherboard) and cedar shingles last a long time when they are painted or stained, kept off the ground and allowed to dry. Most failures start where water sits: at sills, at the bottom courses, behind gutters and where a roof meets a wall.

A good repair cuts out the rotted boards or shingles and splices in new wood of the same profile and exposure, primes every face and end, and fixes whatever let the water in. Replacing a whole wall is for siding that is failing throughout.

Cedar shakes and shingles weather from tan to silver-gray. New shingles in a repair will stand out for a while unless they are stained to blend.

Gable end of a cottage covered in weathered cedar shake shingles with white trim

South Norfolk's historic district

South Norfolk is Chesapeake's oldest urban area, and its local historic district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Siding repairs and replacements visible from a paved public street may need a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA). Minor actions are reviewed by planning staff; major ones go to the Historic and Architectural Review Board.

The district's design guidelines ask owners to retain and maintain historic siding, to nail warped or loose shingles back in place, to repair with matching materials, and to replace historic siding and shingles only as required. Masonry walls should not be covered with siding.

Questions

Wood clapboard and cedar shake: common questions

Can wood siding be replaced with vinyl in South Norfolk?

Inside the historic district it depends on approval. The guidelines say restoring historic siding is preferable, and where synthetic siding is approved they prefer hardboard such as cement-wood boards to vinyl or aluminum. Ask the city's planning staff first.

How do you match old clapboard?

By profile, thickness and exposure (the visible height of each board). A contractor can measure and find or mill a match.

Siding cracked, loose or worn out?

Talk to an independent siding contractor who works in Chesapeake

Replacement, repair, a new addition or a single storm-torn wall: call and you are put through to an independent local siding contractor. They see the house, measure, and write up the job. Whether you hire them is your decision.

Talk to a siding contractor

One call connects you with an independent siding contractor who works in Chesapeake. Describe the wall, the damage or the project and arrange a time for them to look at it.